2012 Super Chevy Show Bristol TN - Bow Ties In The Valley

The Super Chevy Show series returned to Thunder Valley in the Bristol, Tennessee, for some hot Chevy action.

Bristol is always one of our favorite stops on the Super Chevy Show series. Every year the car show field is packed, the racing action at the strip top notch, the people are great to talk with, and overall it’s just a really good time.

This year’s show featured some of the best cars yet, with a total of eight Gold Class nominees competing for top honors, and plenty of great Chevys to choose from for our AMSOIL Best of the Best competition.

On Saturday night of the Bristol show, Thunder Valley hosts its “Night of Fire” that brings out jet cars, monster trucks, and acrobatic motorcyclists.

Billy Morgan’s rat rod Chevy truck had people stopping for looks all weekend. Billy found the ’47, slammed it to the ground with air bags, then painted it up to look like a vintage electric service truck, complete with an old ’40s transformer sitting in the bed

Jesse Addington has his Malibu carrying the wheels past the tree in the crisp Bristol night air. The racing conditions were perfect all weekend.

There’s no telling what you’ll see at a Super Chevy event, which was well demonstrated when Doug Thompson showed up in the Footbrake class with what appears to be the ill-fated Grumpy’s Toy XIII. While there is no documentation to support that this is the car, it seems clear that this is an original SRD Pro Stocker with a three-link rear suspension and some leftover crash damage that indicates that this lost car might have been found at this event.

The Bristol swap meet is always full of interesting cars and parts. With wagons growing more popular, this 327-equipped and pretty solid ’68 Chevelle hauler had lots of potential.

The lanes were filled all weekend with everything from pro mods to bracket cars to junior dragsters.

Wesley Cox of Pulaski, Virginia, is a veteran of many Super Chevy events and was at Bristol running his cherry ’68 Chevelle SS with a 350 and Turbo 400 transmission. Cox ran a 14.10 best at Bristol with a basically stock engine before bowing out in the first round of eliminations.

Bristol always has one of our biggest and strongest Gold Class fields in the series, with eight cars competing this year for the top Super Chevy Show award.

Rob Adler’s ’57 Chevy from Chicago didn’t make the finals, but was the talk of the race when he recorded two 3-second eighth-mile runs with his 521 cid powered Pro Mod with a high helix 14-71 blower.

Anyone need a set of vintage Radial T/A’s?

A rare one to pop up for sale at Bristol was this War Bonnet Yellow ’72 LT-1 Vette. The window said it was a 61K original mile, two owner car with rare factory air (1-of-240)and four-speed. Looking at the car’s owner, we were wondering if he was a survivor from ’72 as well.

Don’t see one of these every day!

Adrian Whitson from Burnsville, N.C., was the overall winner in Super Chevy True Street with this street-legal Camaro RS. Whitson used a 383 stroker engine with a Turbo 350 tranny in the car and averaged 9.06 seconds overall.

Dig the vintage Keystone wheels on Greg Fleenor’s ’69 El Camino.

Dig the vintage Keystone wheels on Greg Fleenor’s ’69 El Camino.

Tre Mills saved up his hard earned dollars from mowing lawns and other odd jobs in high school to buy his dream car from a family friend, this ’69 L78 monster. Tre sold it after starting college, but tracked it down 30 years later and had it completely restored. Watch for a future feature in Super Chevy on this one.

Bobby Green’s great looking late-model SS was the 12-second category winner in True Street when he ran times of 12.048, 12.005 and 12.029 to finish with a 12.027 average during his three timed round robin runs at Bristol.

Just a few fastback Chevy II’s were ever built by Bill Thomas Race Cars back in the day, but Kelvin Cannon remembered them well and crafted this tribute machine, which runs in the mid 11-second range.

Coming from nearby Elizabethton, Tennessee, Mike Williams was the local favorite in Pro Mod action with this great looking ’41 Willys, which was running in the 4.0 second range all weekend long at Bristol.

This wheelstanding ’08 Cobalt was raced by Larry Trogdon and won an Editor’s Choice Top 10 Drag Car award at Bristol. Larry runs a 360 cid Chevy engine with 15-degree heads in IHRA Super Stock and was posting 5.50s at 123-plus mph in the eighth-mile.

Tim Clark of Rockingham, N.C., was looking good in his B/NMC ’67 Chevelle SS. The car normally runs on a 10.50 index in the quarter-mile. Power comes from a 427 Rat.